Recessed lighting fixtures are commonly used as an effective light source. The ceiling lamp can be coupled with either a floodlight bulb for general lighting tasks, or with a spotlight bulb, which produces a relatively narrow beam of intense light, for directional lighting to highlight a subject or an otherwise unlit area. Conventionally, the prior art utilizes incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, or high intensity discharge lamp bulbs for some or all of these tasks.
A problem associated with the prior art lighting fixtures stem from the light source itself—i.e., the bulb. Incandescent bulbs use electricity to heat a filament until it glows white hot, producing light. About 90% of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs is lost as heat. Incandescent spotlight and floodlight bulbs typically burn for about two thousand hours before failing. Halogen bulbs (bulbs with a tungsten-halogen filament) produce more light, use less energy, and last longer (about three thousand hours) than the same wattage incandescent bulb, but they cost more. When configured for installation in a bulb socket, compact fluorescent bulbs have an advantage over incandescent and halogen bulbs. Such fluorescent bulbs provide light comparable to an incandescent bulb, can last ten thousand hours, and do so while consuming a quarter of the energy. Also available are incandescent bulbs which have longer life, but at a higher cost. These longer life incandescent bulbs also use more energy than a conventional incandescent bulb.
Missing from the art is a lighting fixture which accommodates a highly efficient lighting source which lasts longer than the prior art bulbs, where the fixture incorporates mechanisms for easy replacement of the light source. The present invention can satisfy one or more of these and other needs.